This though is not just a Kenyan problem, watching international news you get the feeling that the global economy is struggling. Hence, saving money in whichever way possible has become more important.

Every penny counts, and finding ways to reduce unnecessary expenses and costs can significantly impact your financial health. Whether it’s cutting down on daily costs, finding better deals, or taking advantage of financial services that offer more value.

Every effort towards saving or stretching your income can help you navigate these challenging economic times more effectively.

An average Kenyan youth makes about Kes. 50,000 there about every month. They spend an average of Kes. 18,000 in rent for their one-bedroom apartment in Ruaka.

Their monthly shopping and utilities costs Kes. 5,000 and Kes. 2,000 respectively. They also have set aside Kes. 10,000 for transport and have a black tax budget of about Kes.

5,000 monthly. Additionally, they use Kes. 5,000 for sherehe and save the remaining Kes. 5,000 for a rainy day. Not a decent amount that can get you out of a jam if you ask me.

With all that in mind, how can someone save more? There are a few tips and tricks to ensure that you stretch every coin, most people have hacked this by looking out for offers.

For instance, many brands or stores have mid-year sales and black Friday sales that aim to save their customers a few shillings, look out for these when doing your shopping.

Another hack would be using money in the same ecosystem to save money on transaction charges. For instance, if you bank with Equity, you can benefit a lot from their zero transaction costs for Equity-to-Equity transfers and payments.

It may look negligeable, but we do spend a lot of money on transaction costs whenever we move money from our bank accounts to mobile wallets to make payments or send money to our loved ones.

Whether transferring money from your Equity bank account to another Equity Bank account, through Equitel line, Equity Mobile App or USSD (*247#) to a friend, family member or your local mama mboga, its absolutely FREE!

So next time you want to send your parent or siblings cash, how about you ask them if they have an Equity bank account? You will save on transaction costs there. When paying for your groceries, ask the mama mboga if they have an Equity account.

Just doing some quick math on my financial transaction costs, I realized I spend about Kes 800 every month. In a year, that would be Kes. 9,600.

What does this translate to in the current economic status? This would be enough for a return ticket via SGR to Mombasa for your December holiday. Could be a whole goat for your Christmas sherehe with the family or almost two months’ worth of your grocery shopping – imagine cruising through Njaanuary courtesy of your savings on transaction costs!

Money doesn’t come easy, so whenever you find a way to save an extra coin, run with it!

The post Getting the Most Out of Your money During Tough Economic Times appeared first on Biz Post Daily.

Equity’s Eastern and Central Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan is envisaged to provide financing of up to 2% of the combined GDP of the six economies, in which the Group operates, to the private sector in the form of blended financing of short-term overdrafts, medium-term loans and credit facilities which require long-term project and development financing.

While launching the Recovery and Resilience Plan Dr. James Mwangi, Equity Group Managing Director and CEO said, “A total of Kshs 678 billion (USD 6 billion) will be available to 5 million MSMEs and 25 million individual borrowers for the next 5 years. The plan conceives that the 5 million businesses largely comprising MSMEs will create 50 million jobs, 25 million jobs directly and an equal number of jobs indirectly as the ecosystems of business become more cohesive, connected, and ultimately synergize and grow.”

“The recovery plan will have special focus on youth and women, supporting them to be the primary drivers of creating and expanding opportunities in the real economy. Under the Young Africa Works Initiative in partnership and collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation, the plan will build capacity in young people through financial literacy, entrepreneurship training and digital literacy. To ensure that no one will be left behind, lending to young people will be complemented with credit guarantee facilities to mitigate default through our credit risk pricing model that has opened inclusive credit access to all. Risk based credit pricing has enabled us to adopt a transparent, all-inclusive interest rate, at the current average central bank rate that ranges from 13% to 18.5% for the lowest risk and the highest risk categories respectively,” added Dr. Mwangi.
The Regional Development Plan through recovery and resilience initiatives focuses on five thematic areas:
• Primary sectors of Food and Agriculture, and extractive sectors
• Manufacturing and Logistics
• Trade and Investments
• Micro small and medium enterprises
• Social impact and Environmental investments

Under the primary sectors, principally Food and Agriculture, the focus will be on unlocking productivity gains and value addition ecosystems to achieve food security for the region while increasing value creation in the primary sectors, which are the highest employers, highest foreign exchange earners and the highest contributors of export goods. The plan targets agricultural transformation by enhancing value chain coordination, capacity building of smallholder farmers-anchoring them better to formal value chains, financing mechanisation and credible inputs. A significant plank of the plan is agro processing which adds and enhances the value of agricultural exports, while processing food for easy access by an urbanising population and production of building materials to support construction and housing development.

The recovery and resilience plan seeks to leverage on productive capacities and comparative advantages to transform the region into a manufacturing hub that converts agricultural raw material into finished products for export and national use. The plan covers value addition for all primary products including retaining value in mineral processing to export semi-finished and finished products. The plan targets financing of in-country manufacturing and regional supply chains to replace broken global supply chains following COVID-19 disruptions. This will build regional resilience against global supply chain shocks while contributing to economic recovery and growth of the region, creating employment opportunities for young people and markets for local producers.

“We learned and developed a lot of knowledge while setting up PPE production and manufacturing in Kenya during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to replace the broken global PPE supply chains, Equity Group Foundation donated Kshs 1.1 billion (USD 11 million) jointly with its partners to protect doctors and medical staff of 116 national referral, county, and faith-based hospitals for the last two years. Through the initiative to establish and strengthen local production and manufacturing, Kenya has become self-sufficient in PPE and a leading African exporter of PPE. Our current plans include supporting the manufacturing and production of COVID-19 drugs, anti-infectives and vaccines in the region,” said Dr. Mwangi.

Focus on trade and investments will enable expansion of markets for the primary sectors of Food and Agriculture and the manufactured products, along with the realisation of investments to support growth of the two sectors. The East African Community, following the inclusion of DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), will provide an expanded regional market with similar characteristics and requirements. The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) presents, with it opportunities that the Plan seeks to fully utilize by signing an implementation and collaboration partnership with the AfCFTA Secretariat to position Equity Group as an implementation partner. The plan also seeks to fully utilise existing Trade and Investment Agreements such as the European Union Trade Agreement, the United States of America’s AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act) framework, and the capacities of the Commonwealth community. -Pilot testing of these initiatives was undertaken with the December 2021 Kenya DRC Trade Mission between the Governments of the DRC and the Government of Kenya with support of Equity Group. The mission which has generated a sizeable deal pipe provided us invaluable lessons on how to mobilise, organise and support the private sector in stimulating cross-border trade and investment for purposes of scaling,” said Dr. Mwangi.

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are the largest vehicles for indigenous capital and entrepreneurship and will contribute significantly to local capital formation and employment. Mass market and MSME financing is a key strength of Equity Group with 72% of its loan and credit portfolio held in this segment. The Group has rolled out a plan to lend and advance loans to 5 million MSMEs and 25 million individuals to stimulate participation of the local community and population, with a bias to young people and women.
To enhance the success rate among MSMEs and young people, the plan involves credit risk sharing mechanisms and capacity building through financial literacy and entrepreneurship training.

“The Group has pilot tested lending to young people under the Young Africa Works in partnership with Mastercard Foundation with a resounding success rate of 436,000 MSMEs trained and funded to the tune of Kshs 136 billion, and 1.2 million jobs created by the enterprises as they expand and grow on access of financing,” said Dr. Mwangi. “The objective of the plan is to formalise the informal sector of MSMEs by linking them with formal manufacturing and primary food and agriculture sectors and by populating their value chains and ecosystems to achieve growth and resilience while accelerating recovery of the MSME sector,” added Dr. Mwangi.

The Regional Recovery and Resilience Plan seeks to enhance the social contract with society while targeting sustainability on the basis of resilience by including environmental and climate change considerations. The plan strives to achieve a social economic transformation of the region in a socially ethical and environmentally sustainable manner. Being a purpose driven plan, inclusion is at the centre of consideration to ensure nobody is left behind and the plan is fully anchored on sustainability.

“We seek to use our AAA+ rated finance brand to ensure the plan enhances its social contract with society by seeking partnership and collaboration with local communities to ensure their participation and involvement. The plan incorporates strong principles and practices to assure all stakeholders of transparency and openness, under ESG (Environmental Social Governance) considerations,” said Dr. Mwangi.

Equity Group recognises that it cannot single-handedly deliver the development of Africa. Cognisant of this fact, the Group has chosen to champion the socio-economic transformation of Africa jointly with like-minded partners and to seek their collaboration and partnership to synergise the combined capabilities and competencies of public-private partnerships, which will help mobilise the requisite strength to execute the Plan. The Group has socialised and negotiated partnership with the United Nations Resident Coordinators in the 6 countries in which it operates for collaboration and participation of all the UN Agencies operating in the region under the auspices and delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) collaboration framework.

The Plan has won the support and participation of IFC, AfDB, European Development Banks (Team Europe), the Commonwealth Secretariat, the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement Secretariat and the European Union, as well as support from the national governments of the six countries the Group operates in. “We are grateful for the enthusiasm shown towards collaborating and partnering to jointly execute on the social and economic recovery and resilience of Eastern and Central Africa, particularly in mobilising USD 6 Billion in financing for the fund,” said Dr. Mwangi.

The post Equity Group Launches Kshs. 678 billion Regional Private Sector Economic Recovery and Resilience Stimulus Plan appeared first on Biz Post Daily.

Coming hot on the heels of its acquisition of a majority stake in Banque Commerciale Du Congo (BCDC), which has since been renamed EquityBCDC, Equity Bank is now eyeing new opportunities in Ethiopia.

On the other hand, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) has its eyes trained on Rwanda and Tanzania. The lender is at an advanced stage of acquiring stakes in Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR) and Tanzania’s BancABC.

The appetite for regional expansion is fueled by ongoing reforms in the region. With the liberalization of the telecommunications sector in Ethiopia, Kenyan banks such as KCB and Equity which have representatives in the country are now waiting on the wings and hoping on leveraging on resultant technology to extend their influence in that market.

Commenting on this during the release of Q1 financial results, Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi said, “We have ears on the ground. And I think what the ground is saying, is that it is just a matter of time before the financial sector is liberalised.”

“Evolving economic, social, political governance reforms and environment have strengthened prospects for long-term sustained regional growth and investment, This coupled with the development of physical and soft infrastructure enhance opportunities for private sector credit growth and productivity gains from cross border trade,” he added.

The improving business environment between Kenya and Tanzania after years of frosty relationship is also driving the appetite for investors in that market.

Players in the financial sector are hoping to gain from the tripartite East African Crude Oil Pipeline project agreement (EACOP) signed between Tanzania, Uganda, and a number of oil companies.

With a population of about 90 million, almost half of whom are young people living in urban centers, the DRC is another lucrative destination for Kenyan lenders. The prospects are even higher with the US expected to reinstate DRC’s eligibility for trade preferences under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

In the first quarter of 2021, Equity Bank’s regional subsidiaries registered resilience and robust growth to contribute 40 per cent of total deposits while KCB Group recorded a net profit of 6.37 billion. this marked a 1.7 per cent increase from 6.26 billion shillings reported same period last year.

According to the 2020 Bank Supervision Annual Report by the Central Bank, cross border banking by some Kenyan banks has expanded in the EAC partner states and the DRC. The banks include KCB, Diamond Trust Bank and NCBA.

Others are Guaranty Trust Bank Kenya, Equity Bank, I&M, ABC Bank and Cooperative Bank. These banks have positioned themselves to capitalize on the growing cross border trade flows.

Despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic that slowed down economic activities globally, Kenyan banks continued to grow their regional footprints. As of December 31, 2020, the total number of branches of Kenyan banks subsidiaries in the EAC Partner States and DRC grew by 8.5 percent from 316 branches recorded the previous year to 343 recorded as at December 31, 2020.

The growth was mainly driven by Equity Group Holding Plc’s acquisition of BCDC. However, two other banks, KCB and Guarantee Trust Bank , scaled down their branch network in the region.

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Dubbed the ‘Clean Cooking Project’, the initiative aims at supporting learning institutions to install modern technologies for cooking that are environmentally safe such as steam-based cooking, biofuels, sustainable biomass and Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). Equity will provide financing for the equipment and other installation costs based on an institution’s needs.

Speaking during the launch of the initiative at Alliance High School, Equity Group Managing Director and CEO, Dr. James Mwangi said, “Wood-fuel is not a sustainable model for our planet as it has led to adverse environmental degradation and depletion of our much-needed forest cover. Lack of appropriate financing and innovative technologies has been the biggest barrier to clean energy transition. To close this gap, we have decided to partner with learning institutions to facilitate them access and install more environmentally friendly cooking and lighting facilities”.

According to the Clean Cooking Alliance of Kenya (CCAK) study on ‘Use of Biomass Cookstoves and Fuels in institutions in Kenya report of 2018’, 97% of primary and secondary schools use firewood derived from forests as cooking fuel. This counters the Kenya government efforts of attaining the constitutional requirement of 10 percent forest cover.

“We decided to create a more integrated programme to ensure trees would grow to maturity and not be used as an energy source. For us to migrate from wood-based fuel solutions in our institutions, we require a concerted effort from the management of the various institutions, energy technology providers, end-users and government agencies. We encourage institutions and organizations to take this route and lead the way so that we can protect our environment. Equity will walk with you on this journey,” added Dr. Mwangi.

CCAK estimates that 1 million metric tonnes of wood-fuel is used by primary and secondary schools every year with a value of KES 10 billion. The increased over-reliance on wood and charcoal as the primary sources of fuel by institutions requires urgent attention for Kenya to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by the year 2030 under the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC).

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha, who presided over the launch, said, “Alliance High School has traditionally used wood for cooking, harvested from trees in its compound. With the installation of clean cooking infrastructure, the school can now reap the benefits of cleaner and environmentally friendly cooking solutions. This is a project that is transformative and in line with the Government’s agenda. When you look at the negative effects of climate change you will understand its importance. My call today is for all schools in Kenya to quickly follow suit and embrace clean energy solutions. This will contribute in reversing environmental degradation, save costs and improve health outcomes. If all schools switched to cleaner alternatives, we will not only preserve our trees but will also significantly reduce our carbon footprint.”

By transitioning to cleaner fuels like LPG, institutions can realize up to 40% savings in their cooking and lighting budget with better health and environmental outcomes, improved kitchen hygiene and motivation of workers.

“I am very grateful to Alliance High School, Equity and its technical partners for making it possible to have Alliance transition from a heavy consumer of wood fuel to modern and cleaner cooking technology that preserves the environment. The school’s kitchen will be used as a model for all institutions that want to adopt this technology,” added Prof. Magoha.

Equity is fully committed to working with all learning institutions in Kenya for them to realize the multiple benefits of modern and clean energy.

Last year, Equity committed to planting 35 million trees to contribute and rally the country towards the achievement of 10% forest cover. Out of the 35 million trees, Equity intends to plant 20 million in learning institutions. So far, Equity has planted 3.2 million trees, 2 million of which has been planted in 2,133 schools across the country. This is in support of the government initiative to achieve the 10% forest cover. Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and the Ministry of Environment & Forestry are supporting Equity through technical assistance on seedlings requirements for different geo-ecological zones, adoption of forest blocks that require rehabilitation and other logistical support.

Equity through the Foundation is promoting and driving conservation and smart use of natural resources by expanding forest cover, improving water security and promoting the use of renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies. So far 780,000 households and businesses have been supported to access clean energy products including solar panels for lighting and heating in homes, schools and hotels.

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